In recent years the military services have developed "smart" munitions which utilize optical communication systems and optical sensors frequently which must be electrically connected or optically aligned to an optical fiber for the transmission of light. These "smart" munitions are being used in increasingly demanding environments. These munitions are frequently used in applications which require them to survive 20,000 G's plus, at temperatures which can range from -45.degree. to +71.degree. C. and have shelf life of up to 20 years.
In the past optical epoxies have been used as a means of attaching optical fibers to other optical components such as laser diodes, photo detectors and Integrated Optic Chips (IOC's). Recently the IOC's made of LiNb0.sub.3 have been improved to the degree to be combined with optical fiber into complete systems. The optical fiber is usually supported by a cube-shaped element called a fiber carrier which is typically made of the same material as the IOC. The optical fiber is positioned in a V-groove in the fiber carrier. After the fiber is correctly positioned into this V-groove, a small drop of optical epoxy is applied to the length of the V-groove and cured with ultra-violet light. Once optical alignment is made between the optical fiber/fiber carrier assembly and the IOC, a small drop of optical epoxy is applied to one face of the components. The two components are then brought back into contact and optical alignment, spreading the epoxy between them. UV light is then used to cure the epoxied assembly for approximately four (4) minutes. After this initial cure, the complete assembly is baked at 50.degree. C. for several hours.
The problem with this prior art method is that the epoxy material creeps if a force is applied to a bonded component for a period of time. The is only a small amount of empirical data with regard to lifetime and environmental survivability under the military conditions aforementioned. There displacement of epoxied components would allow optically aligned waveguides to separate. If this misalignment is perpendicular to the optical axis, a movement as small as 0.1 .mu.m would result in significant attenuation of the light signal. Present epoxies that are curable by UV light have another problem. They exhibit an abrupt change in their Coefficient of Thermal Expansion in the temperature region of -35.degree. to +12.degree. C. Since the military temperature range varies from -45.degree. to +71.degree. C., cycling of epoxy bonded components cause greater likelihood of bond failure, decreased signal to noise ratio or even spurious signals as a cold munition is heated during cannon launched applications. Another problem with epoxied optical components is their relatively long curing time. The aforementioned problem coupled with the difficulty of applying an epoxy accurately and without excess, seriously limits high volume production and drives up cost.